This movie is a tour de force both as a story and as a showcase for Cate Blanchett's excellent acting. It was written and directed by Woody Allen but its not his typical neurotic angst driven picture and endless spins of dialogue don't dominate the film.
Its the story of the psychic deterioration of Jasmine, a woman who used to be married to a man who was involved in many "highly lucrative" money making and investment schemes. She had unlimited wealth and lived in the circles of similar wealth. Jasmine is arrogant and feels privileged and is critical and intolerant and awfully self-centered. She is also very very superficial and her entire being and reason for living is the externals; jewelry, homes, yachts, parties, etc.
Well, it all comes to an end when her husband, acted very smoothly by Alec Baldwin, is found out by the Feds and is taken to jail. Jasmine loses all the money and homes and has to live with her sister, Ginger, in a small apartment in San Francisco. This sister and her then husband, acted surprisingly effectively by Andrew Dice Clay, lost all their savings and lottery winnings due to an investment they made with Jasmine's husband.
Cate Blanchett is mesmerizing, totally enchanting and heartbreakingly pathetic and maddening as she attempts to make a life for herself in the "real world".
Amazing wonderful film. Bill and I both rated it a 9. I had to take a point off from a perfect 10 because the music in certain places was too loud and it was intrusive. Plus it was songs sung in French; like something you'd hear at 3:30 am in a cabaret in Paris.
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